To Fill A Silence
by BMM42
Summary: Jaune unintentionally angers Pyrrha, and the two become trapped in an elevator. And Jaune? Well, Jaune just can't stand an uncomfortable silence... This story is set after the end of Volume 2. There are some Arkos and Renora headcanons in here- You have been warned. Dr. Oobleck also makes an appearance. Romance tag used despite a lack of kissing or love confessions, so heads up.
1. To Fill A Silence

Jaune Arc walked down a corridor at Beacon Academy, in step with his teammate, Pyrrha Nikos. It was late in the evening, and the air was heavy with sullen silence punctuated only by the pair's footsteps. In point of fact, Jaune was several steps behind Pyyrha, who had made it a point to walk faster every time he caught up, right up until they had reached the elevator that would take them to the dormitory level. Jaune stopped next to Pyrrha, and awkwardly rocked back and forth on his heels, the hall now totally silent. His companion stared resolutely forward. She was not frowning, but to those who knew her she was visibly upset. This did nothing to ease Jaune's tension.

The dead silence was pervaded by the sound of the elevator descending. In normal circumstances, they might have had to wait for the indicator light, or the tell tale tone to know that the elevator was almost there. But the hall was deathly quiet, and the sound was quite loud indeed to Jaune's ears.

The tone did, after what seemed an agonizing time, call out, and the doors to the elevator slid open. Pyrrha stepped inside and turned to face the open doorway, pointedly not looking at Jaune. The blonde followed after her, and pulled out his scroll. Somehow, he managed to lose his grip on it and dropped it to the floor with a loud clatter. The sound seemed to fill the space, and he hurriedly bent to pick it up.

"Heh, clumsy me." Jaune mumbled, hoping to ease the tension. No such luck, however. Pyrrha continued to stare forward as the doors slid closed. Jaune stood straight again, and pressed a button. As the elevator began to ascend, Jaune opened the scroll. No messages. He'd known that of course- The light on the device would have been flashing if he'd had any. He'd only pulled it up to have something to do. Of the things Jaune Arc was talented with, enduring awkward silences was not one of them.

Without warning, the elevator lurched to a sudden halt. Thrown off balance, Jaune pitched forward into the elevator's control panel, smashing his forehead into the buttons.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha knelt down at her team leader's side, gently pulling him back from the button pad. The blonde shifted back into a sitting position on the floor of the elevator. "Are you alright Jaune? You aren't hurt are you?"

Juane rubbed his now pink forehead with a gloved hand. "Yeah, I'm okay. I've had a lot worse than that." He smiled at Pyrrha, but his face fell when she looked away. Jaune looked around, as if searching for something, though whatever it was the man was searching for failed to appear. "Hey, Pyrrha... Shouldn't the elevator be moving again by now?"

"I suppose it should." The girl offered quietly. Silence reigned again except for the clack of her heels as she resumed her standing position.

"...Still not moving." Jaune said weakly about a minute later, struggling to put a crack in the indestructible tension. Still, Pyrrha said nothing. "...I'm gonna call for help." Jaune withdrew his scroll and tapped Ren's icon.

"...Jaune? Where are you?" Ren's voice came over the scroll.

"Hey Ren, I'm in the elevator. It's stuck." Jaune turned to smile at Pyrrha, confident that they would soon be out. She was still looking at the door.

"Is Pyrrha with you?" A girl's voice came over the scroll. Jaune's face fell. He briefly considered telling Nora she was mad at him. No, probably a bad move.

"Well, uh, yes. Yes she is, Nora. And it's stuck, so if you guys could let someone know so they can get us out, that'd be great... Hello?" The call was ended. "Huh. I guess they went to get help." Jaune closed his scroll. He was certain they'd be out in no time.

After what seemed like twenty additional minutes of silence, Jaune's confidence was waning. "Maybe the repair guy was already asleep, and he takes a long time to get dressed?" Pyrrha still refused to answer Jaune. The blonde looked up at his teammate. "Come on Pyrrha! We're stuck in here, you could at least talk to me! I know you're mad and everything but-"

Pyrrha turned her back to Jaune, arms folded over her chest. "But what Jaune? If you don't want my training, then you should just come out and tell me instead of wasting our time every night. You don't need to make excuses to dodge it."

Jaune hurriedly stood up. "What? No, Pyrrha, I appreciate what you're doing for me, I really do! Why would you think I don't still want your help?"

The champion fighter finally turned to face her leader. "Because Jaune. You won't let me give it to you. Every night, we come out, and we spar, and then you tell me you want to pack it in. We haven't worked with your aura in weeks. Every time it's the same thing. Why Jaune?"

The blonde broke eye contact, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Uh well, you know, I just haven't been feeling very well, and-"

Pyrrha shook her head. "Jaune, you're just fine. Your combat skills have been improving every day. You can't expect me to believe you've been under the weather. And what's more- I don't understand why you feel the need to lie to me!" Jaune hung his head in shame and mumbled something under his breath. "What? I'm sorry Jaune, I didn't catch that."

Jaune took a deep breath. "I said, it's because I'm scared." When Pyrrha said nothing, Jaune continued. "Look, I've been avoiding doing aura training with you because I've been worried that we'll unlock my semblance and it'll turn out to be a big explosion or something and you'll get hurt, okay? I've been working on it, really, just... Alone. By myself."

Pyrrha put a hand on Jaune's shoulder, and gave him a dazzling smile. "You know, you'd make better progress if I was there to help you." Jaune began to protest, but stopped when Pyrrha placed her other hand over his heart. "Jaune... Remember what I told you? Your Aura is a manifestation of your soul. I know you Jaune, and I know your soul. You could never hurt me."

Jaune gazed back into Pyrrha's eyes, a blush slowly creeping up his cheeks. "I guess we could start doing aura training together again. If you're sure you won't get hurt, I mean."

Pyrrha nodded. "I'm certain Jaune." Pyrrha glanced down, and her eyes went wide, and she tore her hands off Jaune as if she'd been touching a fire. "Oh! Sorry!" Pyrrha turned around sharply, holding her hands behind her back as she spoke to the wall. "So, did Ren mention when the elevator would get moving again?"

"Uh, no." Jaune admitted. "I'm not sure what's taking so long, it feels like it's been a half an hour since I called him."

"Jaune, it's been ten minutes."

"Oh."

Another silence filled the elevator, but this one had a different texture. It wasn't angry or sullen, but rather apprehensive, or maybe longing. Waiting for the right words to fill it.

Jaune was not likely to supply the right words. "So, uh, what's going on with Ren and Nora? I mean, she says they aren't together together, but I kinda get the impression she wants to be. What do you think?"

Pyrrha turned back to Jaune. "Oh, well, I don't really know. I try not to pry into people's private affairs. They do seem to care deeply for each other though."

"That's what I mean!" Jaune said, pressing his back against the wall opposite Pyrrha and sliding down into a sitting position. "I mean, Ren is... Ren. But you can tell he cares about her! I think they should just get it over with, you know?"

"Maybe they should. Though I suppose that will be up to Ren, if Nora continues to maintain that they aren't together... Together." Jaune nodded, and the conversation fell away again. After another pause, Pyrrha filled the silence. "So... What's going on with you and Weiss? I imagine you're still pursuing her?"

Jaune sighed. "Well... I dunno. Maybe? I mean, I still think she's beautiful and wonderful and everything." Pyrrha shifted her feet slightly. "But, you know. She asked Neptune to the dance. I guess I was kind of hoping she was just playing hard to get, or testing me, or, or something. But I guess she just isn't interested in Jaune Arc. Guess I can't blame her." Jaune hung his head foreward.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha reached a hand foreward as she took a half step toward him, then stopped, letting her arm fall back to her side. "I know it hurts. Going unnoticed. But you shouldn't feel lesser for it. If it's really meant to be, she'll come around."

Jaune looked up to see Pyrrha's smiling face. "...Do you think so?"

"I know so Jaune. When it's love, and it's real, there's no stopping it." Pyrrha placed a hand over her mouth, stifling a yawn. "Oh, excuse me."

Jaune waved a hand dismissively. "Hey, don't worry about it, it's late." Jaune yawned as well. "I wish whoever's gonna get us out of this would hurry up. I wanna get to my bed."

Pyrrha lowered herself to the floor as well, her back to the rear wall of the elevator, with Jaune's wall on her right. "Honestly I'm surprised. I would have thought Beacon's repair team would act faster than this. How long did it take them to get you out of your locker the time Cardin stuffed you inside it?"

Jaune shrugged. "Uh, I dunno. Maybe a few hours? But it wasn't on site, so I suppose we shouldn't have to wait as long as that." Jaune let loose another colossal yawn. "Man, I'm tired. I'm just gonna rest my eyes a bit while we wait for the whoever."

Pyrrha nodded. "It's probably for the best. We wouldn't want to be falling asleep in class in the morning. She allowed her own eyelids to slide shut.

The following morning found Pyrrha and Jaune standing in Dr. Oobleck's office. The over caffeinated lecturer stood behind his desk, scowling at the pair behind his glasses. "Dear children, I must say I expect more out of you! If you are stuck somewhere, you should send for help. After all, you are meant to carry your scroll at all times."

Jaune unwisely interrupted the doctor's admonishment. "But Professor, I called Ren, I told him we were stuck-"

"Mr. Arc, my title is Doctor Oobleck, and I'll thank you to remember it. I will also thank you not to interrupt me. Now, unless your teammate happens to be a certified elevator mechanic, you should have called the school. As it stands the elevator, which could have been fixed the previous evening, ended up delaying many students when it needed to be fixed on the spot when students realized they could not use it to get to class."

Jaune hung his head. "You're right. Sorry."

"Further, the circumstances around your discovery were also unfortunate." As Dr. Oobleck continued, Jaune and Pyrrha began to turn increasingly red. "Really now, this is precisely how rumors get started. Two students discovered sleeping on top of each other in a public space? You're lucky you were found by the maintenance team and not other students, or the story would have circulated the entire school already." Pyrrha stared hard at the floor, her blush deepening. When she'd fallen asleep, they were leaning against separate walls, but when they were awakened, her head had been in Jaune's lap. The things people could have been saying... "I'll ask you two to exercise greater caution in the future. Now, run along." Before either teen could do so, Oobleck had zipped out of the office.

The pair did not 'run along'. Both of them stood stock still, eyes glued to the carpeting. Once again, Jaune spoke first. "Well, at least we aren't in trouble. I wonder why Ren never sent for help?"

Pyrrha nodded, still too mortified to articulate anything.


	2. Side Story

Ren and Nora were lying in their beds when Ren's scroll began sounding. The young man grabbed it off of the end table it was perched on, and tapped Jaune's flashing icon. "Jaune? Where are you?" It was unusual for the team leader and his tutor to still be out at this hour.

"Hey Ren, I'm in the elevator. It's stuck." Hearing Jaune's statement, Nora dropped her book and leapt onto Ren's bed, leaning in close to the scroll.

"Is Pyrrha with you?" Nora asked, strangely focused.

"Well, uh, yes. Yes she is, Nora. And it's stuck, so if you guys could-" Nora hurriedly tapped Jaune's icon to end the call, then grabbed the scroll away from Ren.

Ren looked at his partner quizzically. "Nora, why did you do that? Give me my scroll so I can get help to them."

Nora shook her head, smiling wide. "We are not calling for help!" Ren gave Nora a look that she understood to carry the question 'why not?' "Because! A boy and a girl! Alone, in a small space!" She smiled toothily at Ren, inches from his face.

"...I still don't understand why we aren't calling for help." Nora groaned at Ren's obliviousness and rolled over, so she was lying on her back with her head on Ren's stomach.

"Because, silly! Look, we all know that Pyrrha has it bad for Jaune, and we all know they'd be great together if Jaune would get Weiss out of his head for two minutes, right?"

"Who exactly is this we?" Ren asked, dangerously out of his depth.

Nora's explanation continued, heedless of Ren's skepticism. "So we leave them stranded in the elevator overnight! Sooner or later they'll get to talking about their feelings and it's a one way ticket to smooch city!"

"...I'm calling for help."

Nora pouted at Ren. "Awwww, but why?"

"Nora, we shouldn't be involving ourselves in other people's affairs. However Jaune and Pyrrha feel about each other, leaving them trapped in that elevator is not acceptable. Now give me my scroll."

Nora sprung off of Ren and onto her feet. "If you want it, you're going to have to catch me first!" Before Ren could get his feet onto the ground, Nora had already flung open the door and disappeared.

Ren and Nora didn't attend class the next day, as they spent the entire night running around the campus.


End file.
